Did YouTube Just Turn On HD For Real? — After teasing us for a year with the option to watch “higher quality” videos that weren't quite high-def, it appears that YouTube is making the switch to HD, at least for some videos that have been uploaded in that quality.

Apple Apps “Bubble” Talk Just That, As Downloads Soar — You may have seen the Apple advertisement in the New York Times this morning (back page of the Business section) extolling the virtues of the iPhone. Nothing new there. — If you made it through the fine print …

Apple: 300 million iPhone apps downloaded — Apple on Friday said 300 million iPhone apps have been downloaded from its App Store since it opened in July. — The news comes in the form of two ads placed in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. The ads highlight …

Social Network Profile Costs Woman College Degree — Forget losing your job, apparently your MySpace or Facebook profile and photos can now cause you to lose your degree. In what may be one of the most frightening rulings regarding social networks and privacy to date …

AT&T Hopes for Single Smartphone OS (PC World) — AT&T hopes to standardize on a single operating system for AT&T-branded smartphones as part of a “dramatic consolidation” of its mobile platforms over the next few years, a company executive said Thursday.

Get your Gmail stickers — Not too long ago, one of the Gmail engineers broke out her vinyl cutter and made some Gmail m-velope stickers. Pretty soon, they were pasted to our desks, stuck on our laptops, and adorning the walls around the office. Then other people started asking us about them — first it was just other Googlers.

Could VC be a Casualty of the Recesssion? — (I originally wrote this at the request of a company producing a report about entrepreneurship. Unfortunately after reading it they decided it was too controversial to include.) — VC funding will probably dry up somewhat during the present recession, like it usually does in bad times.

Amazon's Team of Rivals — Not so long ago, much of my life this time of year was spent following the toy wars. From 1999 to 2001, Amazon.com, eToys and Toys ‘R’ Us battled for dominance in the online toy market. (Ultimately, Toys ‘R’ Us joined forces with Amazon, and eToys failed and changed hands several times.)

Industry Moves: NYT Promotes Denise Warren as GM of NYTimes.com — The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) has appointed Denise Warren, SVP and chief advertising officer of the company, as the GM of NYTimes.com, adding to her current duties. She fills the position left vacant by Vivian Schiller, who joined NPR on Dec 1 as the new CEO.

DIY iPhone Airplane Holder — I saw this on an other blog couple of days ago and asked the fellow blogger if I could republish the images on RGS. — A big thank you to Hodenmumps who made this post possible. — Who doesn't like free stuff for your gadgets.

Cisco, Dell Sales at Risk as Slump Fuels Gray Market — A A A — Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) — The remnants of businesses crushed by the economic slump now sit in Liquid Technology Inc.'s warehouse by the Hudson River in New York's Chelsea district. — Hundreds of servers, personal computers and routers …

If Belkin's Not Exhibiting at Macworld and CES, Who Is? — Next month's Macworld Conference & Expo show floor will be quite a bit easier to navigate than in years past. With registration down by 20 percent over last year, there are likely to be far fewer attendees at the annual marquee Apple …

Icahn Nearly $1B in the Hole on Yahoo Buy-In — Last summer, Carl Icahn paid $1.8 billion for a 5.5 percent stake in Yahoo. On Thursday, Yahoo shares were worth about half of what Icahn paid then. But as the beleaguered company's fortunes sink lower, the activist investor keeps buying in further …

Nokia 2605 Mirage Comes to Verizon — Not to be confused with the Nokia 2608 Dusan reported on earlier, the Nokia 2605 ‘Mirage’ is the latest device to hit Verizon's holiday lineup. The new clamshell is sold as a phone for younger and fashion-conscious users. Perhaps the device will appeal to the ‘metrosexuals’ in the crowd?

Second Life's Second Wind — Can the virtual world keep growing despite its collapsing hype? — In what tech pundits at Gartner Research call the curve of hype and gloom, Linden Lab's virtual world, Second Life, has officially entered the gloom stage. — In October, Reuters pulled …